Grunsfeld fixes Hubble telescope after leaving impression in Bonner County

The last astronaut to touch the Hubble Space Telescope also left an impression on local residents two years ago.

Astronaut John Grunsfeld had his feet firmly planted on terra firma in July 2007 when he visited Sandpoint to help kickoff the opening of the Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center.

He spent most of Monday on a space walk, 350 miles above earth, to add new batteries, insulation and a guidance sensor to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Grunsfeld, an astrophysicist-turned-astronaut, has visited Hubble three times and has been called the chief Hubble hugger of the astronaut corps, according to a NASA press release.

During this visit to Hubble, he recorded his eighth career spacewalk - for a total of 58 hours and 30 minutes of spacewalking time - making him the world’s fourth most experienced spacewalker.

The current $1.1 billion mission ends a $10 billion investment in Hubble since its inception. The Atlantis crew will release Hubble back into orbit today.

His first visit to this space marvel was in 1999. Grunsfeld also visited in 2002 in what he called the toughest mission of his life.

Grunsfeld was one of the guests of honor at Forrest and Pam Bird’s home during a party on the night prior to the opening of the museum.

Flying Tiger Tex Hill was there as were a 80 or more friends, explorers and inventors all there to christen the new museum.

As another beautiful Glengary Bay sunset faded and stars began to appear in the night sky, a door to one of the Bird’s hangars was transformed into a movie screen.

For the next hour, Grunsfeld held the rapt attention of all of the party goers as he gave his energetic and unique perspective about man’s place in this universe and the cosmos.

“The Hubble was failing in 2002 and our mission was to save it,” he said. “In fact, I was told that if we didn’t make the necessary corrections, the Hubble would disintegrate and be destroyed. If we couldn’t fix it, there wouldn’t be enough time to revisit Hubble before it fell out of orbit. Billions of dollars gone. All my fault. No pressure, really.”

In his wide-ranging talk, Grunsfeld noted that it is more probable than possible that there is life on planets other than earth.

“This was a speech that everyone on earth should hear,” said one person at the party. “This man should be NASA’s ambassador or public relation’s guy.”

The following day he autographed NASA photos and shook hundreds of hands at the grand opening.

He impressed everyone.

“This is a really tremendous adventure that we’ve been on, a very challenging mission,” Grunsfeld said Monday after he completed his seven-hour walk. “Hubble isn’t just a satellite, it’s about humanity’s quest for knowledge.”

David Keyes is publisher of the Daily Bee.